Gov. David Paterson’s job approval rating has sunk to a new low, according to the results of a Marist Institute poll released Monday, suggesting the steep challenge he would face to win election in 2010.

The number of New Yorkers who said Paterson is doing a good or excellent job slid to 19 percent, a 7 percentage point drop since the results of a Marist poll two months ago. More than half — 51 percent — of those surveyed said they would prefer to have Paterson’s predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, in the governor’s mansion. Spitzer resigned in March 2008 after a sex scandal.

Though 66 percent of New Yorkers rated Paterson as a hardworking governor, an equal share said he is not a good leader for the state. And a wide majority — 68 percent — of respondents disapproved of the governor’s handling of the economic crisis.

The outlook is far brighter for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a possible gubernatorial contender in 2010, who is viewed by 70 percent of voters as doing a good or excellent job. Cuomo, who enjoyed similar numbers in the March poll, is the state’s top-ranked politician.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, also won high marks from New Yorkers, with a 55 percent approval rating, compared with 14 percent who said he is performing poorly. Lagging far behind is the state’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, whose approval rating is hovering around 19 percent — only a slight improvement from March.

Worse for Gillibrand is a hypothetical 2010 election matchup with former New York Gov. George Pataki, a Republican. The poll showed Gillibrand losing to Pataki 38 percent to 46 percent.

The telephone poll of 1,029 registered voters in New York state was conducted April 28-29 and has a 3 percentage point margin of error.